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A review by saucy_bookdragon
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"The most dangerous person in a game is the one nobody knows is playing."
Absolutely GAGGED!
He Who Drowned the World is how you write a fucking sequel! A darker chapter in this duology, it has higher stakes, beautiful writing, and puts the characters into a metaphorical centrifuge that spins around and shows their rich layers. It's also queer as fuck, especially Zhu and Ouyang are playing some 3D levels of gender. Overall, the Radiant Emperor duology is a layered, nail biting, queer, epic fantasy with a full cast of blorbos!
Some spoiler-y semi-coherent thoughts, including spoilers for the ending:
- Ouyang, my poor little meow meow since book one. His arc was the best in this. Beginning still antagonistic and self hating, the latter of which reflects in how he treats other people, especially his misogyny. But through his relationship with Zhu, he grew so much as person and finally saw someone who had similar gender fuckery to himself, but had a sense of pride. It lead to such an interesting redemption arc that made it hurt all the more when he died.
- Zhu is an icon, she is the moment. I found it really interesting how she could see who people actually were and how part of that is because she understands that gender is a social construct, and so sees people for who they are, not who their genders say they are. This gaze in particular is what changes Ouyang, as she treats him for who he really is. With all that said, she also did get a lot of people killed and her loved ones hurt and it made the ending hit so hard, being her choosing to stop this cycle of violence. RIP Xa Du and Ouyang ;_;
- all the book's commentary on gender is so relevant. Internalized misogyny, the way people in the LGBTQ+ community will hate on less visible identities in a sad attempt to seem respectable, the complexity of gender, the importance of seeing people beyond what society says about them, choosing your own name and destiny, etc. This is more than a book with queer representation, it's a book about queerness!
- Baoxiang was a fascinating antagonist. Taking Ouyang's place from book one, he's now the villain who's in love with Esen. And he is so much worse than Ouyang. Though I understand why he did what he did, I can't quite like him like I do Zhu and Ouyang. He kind of boils my blood actually, especially with how he treated Ma. It was so powerful though how at the end he's told to find a new name and how that fits the theme of finding your own destiny and the way that applies to trans experiences. God this book is so queer I love it!
- Ma deserved more page time. She was so important in book one which ended with the grounds for conflict between her and Zhu. She took a backseat for most of this until the ending, but I never felt satisfied by her arc like I did with the others. And though she does get page time towards the end, the last 80 pages aren't as well paced as the rest of the book. It was like the ending was being dragged out but also not given enough time to settle everything.
Absolutely GAGGED!
He Who Drowned the World is how you write a fucking sequel! A darker chapter in this duology, it has higher stakes, beautiful writing, and puts the characters into a metaphorical centrifuge that spins around and shows their rich layers. It's also queer as fuck, especially Zhu and Ouyang are playing some 3D levels of gender. Overall, the Radiant Emperor duology is a layered, nail biting, queer, epic fantasy with a full cast of blorbos!
Some spoiler-y semi-coherent thoughts, including spoilers for the ending:
- Ouyang, my poor little meow meow since book one. His arc was the best in this. Beginning still antagonistic and self hating, the latter of which reflects in how he treats other people, especially his misogyny. But through his relationship with Zhu, he grew so much as person and finally saw someone who had similar gender fuckery to himself, but had a sense of pride. It lead to such an interesting redemption arc that made it hurt all the more when he died.
- Zhu is an icon, she is the moment. I found it really interesting how she could see who people actually were and how part of that is because she understands that gender is a social construct, and so sees people for who they are, not who their genders say they are. This gaze in particular is what changes Ouyang, as she treats him for who he really is. With all that said, she also did get a lot of people killed and her loved ones hurt and it made the ending hit so hard, being her choosing to stop this cycle of violence. RIP Xa Du and Ouyang ;_;
- all the book's commentary on gender is so relevant. Internalized misogyny, the way people in the LGBTQ+ community will hate on less visible identities in a sad attempt to seem respectable, the complexity of gender, the importance of seeing people beyond what society says about them, choosing your own name and destiny, etc. This is more than a book with queer representation, it's a book about queerness!
- Baoxiang was a fascinating antagonist. Taking Ouyang's place from book one, he's now the villain who's in love with Esen. And he is so much worse than Ouyang. Though I understand why he did what he did, I can't quite like him like I do Zhu and Ouyang. He kind of boils my blood actually, especially with how he treated Ma. It was so powerful though how at the end he's told to find a new name and how that fits the theme of finding your own destiny and the way that applies to trans experiences. God this book is so queer I love it!
- Ma deserved more page time. She was so important in book one which ended with the grounds for conflict between her and Zhu. She took a backseat for most of this until the ending, but I never felt satisfied by her arc like I did with the others. And though she does get page time towards the end, the last 80 pages aren't as well paced as the rest of the book. It was like the ending was being dragged out but also not given enough time to settle everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Misogyny, and War
Moderate: Pregnancy